The Story Of Ragnor
by Delekth
Summary: Ragnor was a Wolf Guard in the Space Wolves. In one day he finds himself the commander of a whole chapter. A group of Dark Angels are tracking down one of the Fallen and have commited terrible act in its cause, Ragnor must stop them.
1. The Crossroads

Ragnor crawled forwards to the tree line, ahead of him he could see three burnt out tanks, behind the tanks were Orks, he could smell them. They sat in the centre of a cross roads with perfect line of sight in every direction. Ragnor knew this junction was need so supplies could reach the out lying towns in this area. Across the road he spotted another Space Wolf, keeping low and staying in the shadows and protection of the trees. Turning round, Ragnor signalled for two units of Grey Hunters to join him.

'I need to get across that road, when I go do not shot unless I am spotted, then wait for my return.' With that two of the Space Wolves turned and crawled back the others who were waiting. Taking several deep breathes; Ragnor readied himself for the dash across the road. Finally he was ready and he threw himself out of the trees and charged across the opening, then he dived into the cover of the forest. Rising to his feet, Ragnor listened no shot had been fired, all had gone well. He soon found Gilianum, the Battle Leader of this area. 'Sir all of our vox-comms are out and we had no orders.'

'Listen up then. When this side opens fire, you follow suit, keep it on top of them and don't let it down. We will keep this up as long as we have too, we expect them to break cover and charge us. We should gun them down in time but if we do not have a Blood Claws pack ready to fight. Understood?' Ragnor nodded to affirm that he understood and returned to the road side. He crossed the road with ease and found his men and told them the order.

Two hours passed before the first Space Wolf gun fired and soon every one of the fifty men was firing their weapons. The Orks were keeping low and occasionally fired around the edges of the tanks. Not once had Ragnor seen these beasts in the open, strange behaviour for such primitive life, but this was not to concern him, all he knew was that they needed to be eradicated. As far as he could tell no Orks or Space Wolves had fallen and certainly no Orks had broken covers. Across the path Ragnor spotted Gilianum leading the Blood Claw pack into battle, he saw two of the new recruits fall. Anger rose in him.

'Blood Claws on me!' As soon as these words passed his snarling lips the pack were on their feet and following him into the fray. By this point Gilianum's pack were fighting and this gave Ragnor a big enough diversion to reach the Orks we out losing a single man. He jumped on to the nearest tank and threw himself into the Orks behind it, moments later his Blood Claws joined him. Combat was short, the unbridled aggression of the Blood Claws dispatched of what was left of the Ork mob. Silence now fell over the battle field. Five Space Wolves had fallen for nine Orks. Victory was theirs. Gilianum sent a runner back to the base to let them know the crossroads were now open, all that the Space Wolves had to do was hold it, but it did not seem that the Orks were that keen to keep under their control. Made for and easy victory and such thought could be the end of him so Ragnor cast them from his mind. Five to nine, not bad.


	2. Hold The Line

A thundering roar was what brought Ragnor out of his trance. The roar of one hundred blood thirsty Orks. Picking up his bolter he climbed out of the ruined tank and look around, every pack was ready to fight, most standing behind the tanks for cover, behind them stood all those who were to fight in close combat. Why had no one told him about this, not important at the moment. They needed to hold this position. 'Where's my Blood Claw pack?' He bellowed as he stood to full height. Fourteen warriors came to his side; they were ready for close combat. 'Keep you eyes on me brothers and you will live to another day.' They nodded and went back to their original spot and waited. Ragnor turned and climbed onto the tank and crouched down and used the turret as a defence. Behind him many Space Wolves offered their prayers to Russ and the Emperor. Now the Orks were moving in, the wind carried the scent. Soon they would be in charging distance and even sooner they would be in range of the guns. Still the walked slowly towards them, where they trying to scare us? An intimidation tactic, trying to thin our numbers before they struck. Clearly these Orks had never dealt with the Wolves of Russ before, fore they loathed giving a single inch to the enemies of the Emperor, they would rather die. Finally the Orks charged, roaring as they did so. Many times Ragnor had found himself at the receiving end of the Ork charge. He unhooked his axe and placed it by him on top the tank. Finally the Orks were close enough to shoot. The first volley slew many Orks, they were just trampled under foot. The second wave of fire had the same effect.

'Fire at will.' The sudden roar of gun fire was deafening, around half the Orks had fallen but now what remains were nearly on top of them.

'Blood Claws with me!' Roared Ragnor over the gun fire. Seconds later they were by his side, picking up the axe, he divided into the Orks. The movement and noise was disorienting at first but he soon gathered his bearings and began to swing his axe wildly into all those around him. Finally his axe was stopped, it had struck the neck of a huge Ork killing it but his blade was stuck. A near by Ork pushed the advantage and struck Ragnor's head knocking the helmet clean off. A second blow by the Orks fist broke Ragnor's nose. Pulling hard he freed his axe and arced down into the head of his Ork attacker. Out the corner of his eye he saw other Space Wolves fighting, pushing their way forwards. A loud rumbling from behind caught Ragnor's attention, he recognised the noise. It was a land raider. What was left of the Orks spirit was broken when they saw this and they turned to run, taking advantage of this the Space Wolves sprang forwards and cut down what remained of the Orks. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. The Battle Lord walked over to the Land Raider.He walked back to the group.

'Listen up, we are being taken off the front line. We are being relocated.' With that Ragnor smiled. He hated being on the line, just holding this position was boring him. He picked up his helmet. The road was littered with the dead, Orks and Space Wolves. Twenty-two were left. Out of the fifty that went in, twenty-eight had died in battle. So far from the Fang, such a cold and unrewarding place to die. Taking in a deep breath he could taste the blood and smoke. The bodies of the Space Wolves would be stripped, and there names recorded in the Fang, forever remembered as those who died in the name of the Emperor. As the sun began to set, they walked back to the landing zone. Passing the faceless warriors of the Imperial guard, Ragnor felt a deep sadness in the heart. As they climbed into the Rhino he closed his eyes, he shed a tear for his fallen comrades.

An explosion came from behind the Rhino, Ragnor jumped up and smashed the top hatch open and looked with disbelief at the sight of a burning Rhino, the one Gilianum had been in. The symbol for Gilianum in Ragnor's helmet went black, he was dead. 'Stop, we need to collect their bodies.' As the words passed his lips the Orks opened fire, they were determined to keep the prize they had earned. Another rock flew from the tree but bounced off the armour which sent it upwards before it exploded twenty feet up. The Rhino reversed the wreckage with its bolters ripping the forest apart. The hatch opened and Ragnor jumped out and used his fist to punch a whole in the side of the wrecked tank. Looking up he saw the other Rhino had turned round and was concentrating fire on where they believed most the Orks were. Ragnor dragged six bodies from the burnt wreck, their armour was severely damaged, the rocket had clearly exploded inside the tank. He passed the bodies into the tank and jumped on top of it. The engines roared as the accelerated away. He pulled open the top hatch and climbed in. Damn it, Gilianum was a good leader. Ragnor had no doubt that the responsibility would fall to him now.


	3. The Passage Of Time

The Rhinos thundered into the city. They were heading towards the landing zone. In the distance Ragnor's powerfully hearing picked up the noise of gun fire. The Orks were pushing in on the city but the back of the their force had been broken and the Space Wolves were no longer needed on this planet. For the first time in three days Ragnor's vox-comm worked, the sudden noise of static made him jump, he needed to rest if that caught him off guard. There were distant voice talking but they were hard to pick out over the white noise. Finally they could be heard.

'This is call out to the height ranking Wolf Guard left, Wolf Lord Kilean has fallen in combat. Reply. Over.'

'This Wolf Guard Ragnor, third in command. Battle Lord Gilianum has also fallen.' Ragnor replied seeing where this was going.

'Well Ragnor you are officially in command in till a new Wolf Lord is appointed.'

The Space Wolf driving the Rhino turned round and pointed at the hatch to indicate that they had arrived. The Space Wolves climbed out, their weapons harnessed, none of them ready to fight, the front line was fifty-two kilometres away.

'This is Ragnor, current commander of this company. All Space Wolves are to report to the landing zone. We're pulling out. If you cannot reach here in an hour contact me. Over.' Ragnor then set about getting the bodies to the Apothecary and Chaplin. Within the hour all the Space Wolves that were left arrived and loaded up onto the thunderhawks. Ragnor was the last living Space Wolf to leave this planet.

The ship moved silently through space, its engines quietly propelling it through space. Its destination was a planet; it was a whole year away from their current location. All the soldiers were asleep in the stasis pods. Its gothic hallways were dimly lit and cold. The bridge was in stark contrast to the rest of the ship, it was silent but full of life; The Captain stood in the centre of the floor and looked out the view screen, his lips curled into a smile.

Private Lusian stood on the wall, the heavy rain beating down hard upon his helmet. He struggled to see more than twenty feet in front of him, this damn rain had reduced his vision, he smiled to himself thinking that not even a Space Marine would be able to much further. His lasgun hung loosely at his side. Looking at his watch, he was angered to see that his watch replacement was later. Loud crack caught his attention, in the distance a heavy rhythmic thumping could be heard. He lifted his lasgun to the firing position and looked out across the waste. The thumping was getting closer. He looked to his left as another soldier approached him, ready to change watch. Another loud crack rang out and a bolt smashed into the soldier ripping him apart. Lusian dove the the floor.

'We're under attack!' He saw other soldier running out of their tents and heading towards the wall. Looking over the wall he saw the dull white armour of terminators. They walked slowly but with purpose. As another soldier joined Lusian's side on the wall a bolt flew out of the rain and severed him at the waste. By now the attackers would be about ten feet away. A loud clunk made Lusian panic, he knew that it was a missile launcher. Throwing himself from the wall. Moments later the wall exploded as a missile hit it. Dragging himself to his feet he began to run from the attackers and other soldiers opened fire on them. Screams of pain filled the air as the armoured angels of death moved out seeking their next victim. A Commissar exited his tent at the very moment Lusian ran past. Without a second thought he fired at Lusican. The laspitol had hit and he fell into the mud with a searing pain in his back, it was a fatal wound. He would die of blood loss. Second drag on seeming like years, denying him the warmth of death's embrace. The sudden thud brought his attention to a tall armoured figure. It looked at him before moving on. He had judged him a dead man, and he would be right within the hour he would die. Lusian closed his eyes. The terminator walked back to where he had seen that wounded soldier, he was gone. No sign of where he went. No matter that wound would claim him soon.

It had been a year since Ragnor had left that Ork infested planet. Now he was the Wolf Lord of the company. His company had spent most of the year at the Fang but a report had come in of the near by planet that had been attacked, normally this would be ignored, many planets were subject to raids but it was claimed that this had been committed by an Imperial force, even more disturbing was that it was claimed that they were Space Marines of an unknown chapter. The ship was now in orbit of the Grenas IV, the planet in question. Ragnor now stood in front of the thunderhawk. Two Grey Hunter packs were boarding. Looking round he saw the Long Fang pack walking towards him, as he had requested they were all carrying lascannons apart from the pack leader who had a bolt pistol and an axe. The four Long Fangs boarded and pack leader stopped by Ragnor's side.

'Are we expecting any hostilities down there?' Inquired Phairis. 'Or are we Long Fangs here as a precaution.'

'I didn't not want to go in on the first mission with out some veteran warriors.' Replied Ragnor. Phraisis then walked up the ramp of the thunderhawk followed by Ragnor.

The thunderhawk landed spraying mud all around, the ramp fell open and the two Grey Hunter packs ran down and split either way, they were followed by the Long Fangs who the ran to the cover of a ruined building. Ragnor and the Iron Priest Therion was the last off the thunderhawk. Two voices told him that the perimeter was secure. Ragnor now stood alone in the rain as Therion was looking for clues as to who commited this act. The few stone buildings that were left was covered in bolter damage but this could be chaos. No signs that it was Space Marines. Taking a dep breath, Ragnor's lungs filled with the stench of death. No bodies where here though. They had been removed and buried. A voice in his helmet informed him that an Imperial soldier who had survived the attack was on his way to meet him. Turning Ragnor saw the man; he was tall and had long blonde hair. He had blue eyes and had an unkempt air about him.

'Greeting captain, I am Private Lusian. I was stationed here when the attack struck, in fact I was on watch.' He struggled to smile.

'Well met. I am Ragnor, the Wolf Lord of this company. Come let us get out of this rain.' Ragnor turned and gestured at the thunderhawk that now sat silent in the centre of the abandoned complex.

Lusian entered the thunderhawk and to a seat, he clothes soaked through.

'Tell me all you can about the attackers? Take your time and recall each detail.' Ragnor spoke softly, he had respect for the warrior, he had given his life to the Imperium and had bore witness to this regiment being slaughtered.

'I was on watch, as normal it was raining and vision was reduced. Also the next soldier was running late for switch over. My time on watch had finished officially twenty minutes before hand. When the soldier arrived something caught my attention, the dull thud of the armoured feet. They moved slowly. Before I could see them, one of them opened fire and killed the soldier by my side. I couldn't believe it. I threw myself to the floor and raised the alarm. I looked over the wall, manly out of curiosity and saw their bone white armour. They were terminators.' Lusian took a deep breath and paused.

Ragnor was angered by the words. He knew what Space Marine chapter wore bone white terminator armour. For centuries they had hated each other. It was unknown why except to those with great power. How the Space Wolves despised the Dark Angels.

Lusian took another deep breath and whipped away a tear before continuing. 'Another soldier joined me on the wall and he too suffered the same fate. Before my eyes I witnessed them exploding. The sound of a missile launcher caught my attention and I threw myself from the wall and I fled knowing we couldn't win. By this point they were in the camp. A Commissar saw me running and shot me. The wound would have claimed me but by the Emperors grace I am stubborn and I just refused to die.' He genuine smile passed his lips.


End file.
